Mayor Bass Faces Capitol Hill Probe | California News

0:00Mayor Karen Bass is heading to Capitol Hill. Congress wants her to testify about federal funding for homelessness initiatives. They're looking into potential waste, fraud and abuse, and they've specifically mentioned the Skid Row area in Los Angeles. This is a big deal and is happening on September 15th. The subcommittee is also requesting a ton of documents going back to 2020. They want to see communications between the mayor's office, LAH-HSA, and the LA County Board of Supervisors. This comes after some reporting highlighted contracts involving LAH-HSA's former top official and her husband's nonprofit. Now, LASSA says they welcome audits and that past reviews haven't found any evidence of fraud. They pointed to improvements in their operations and performance indicators. Meanwhile, the mayor's office hasn't commented yet. This whole situation is happening while LAH-SA is also in a legal fight with the federal government over grant funding. The Fed suspended LAH-HS grant activity, citing mismanagement, but a judge granted an injunction against that suspension.

1:04A trial is set for February. On a related note, California lawmakers are still struggling to regulate license plate tracking technology. For the fifth year in a row, a bill aimed at strengthening privacy protections and preventing misuse by law enforcement failed to pass. Despite growing concerns nationwide and examples of abuse, including tracking people for personal reasons, the legislation stalled. Local news powered by AI. This is California News Today.